''We're prepared to file this antitrust action against the NBA,'' union executive director Billy Hunter said. ''That's the best situation where players can get their due process.''
And that's a tragedy as far as NBA Commissioner David Stern is concerned.
''It looks like the 2011-12 season is really in jeopardy,'' Stern said in an interview aired on ESPN. ''It's just a big charade. To do it now, the union is ratcheting up I guess to see if they can scare the NBA owners or something. That's not happening.''
Hunter said players were not prepared to agree to Stern's ultimatum to accept the current proposal or face a worse one, saying they thought it was ''extremely unfair.'' And they're aware what this battle might cost them.
''We understand the consequences of potentially missing the season; we understand the consequences that players could potentially face if things don't go our way, but it's a risk worth taking,'' union vice president Maurice Evans said. ''It's the right move to do.''
But it's risky. The league already has filed a pre-emptive lawsuit seeking to prove the lockout is legal and contends that without a union that collectively bargained them, the players' guaranteed contracts could legally be voided.
During oral arguments on Nov. 2, the NBA asked U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe to decide the legality of its lockout, but he was reluctant to wade into the league's labor mess. Gardephe has yet to issue a ruling.

With the NBA lockout threatening to wipe out the season, a lot of folks are sweating. Especially these 10.

Stern, who is a lawyer, had urged players to take the deal on the table, saying it's the best the NBA could offer and advised that decertification is not a winning strategy.
Last year, he said it would be risky for NBA players to decertify their union because it would not only put an end to the NBA players association, but also would nullify the labor contract.
''It's a nuclear option,'' Stern said at the time, ''but I'm not sure whether it isn't the nuclear option that falls on the party that launches it.''
Players ignored that warning, choosing instead to dissolve its union, giving them a chance to win several billion dollars in triple damages in an antitrust lawsuit.

''This is the best decision for the players,'' union president Derek Fisher said. ''I want to reiterate that point, that a lot of individual players have a lot of things personally at stake in terms of their careers and where they stand. And right now they feel it's important - we all feel it's important to all our players, not just the ones in this room, but our entire group - that we not only try to get a deal done for today but for the body of NBA players that will come into this league over the next decade and beyond.''
Fisher, flanked at a press conference by dozens of players including Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony, said the decision was unanimous. But there were surely players throughout the league who would have preferred union leadership put the proposal to a vote of the full membership instead.

Hunter said the NBPA was in the process of converting to a trade association and that all players will be represented in a class-action suit against the NBA by attorneys Jeffrey Kessler and David Boies - who were on opposite sides of the NFL labor dispute, Kessler working for the players, Boise for the league.

''The fact that the two biggest legal adversaries in the NFL players dispute over the NFL lockout both agree that the NBA lockout is now illegal and subject to triple damages speaks for itself,'' Kessler said in an email to The Associated Press. ''I am delighted to work together with David Boies on behalf of the NBA players.''
Stern was not impressed with his legal adversaries.
''Mr. Kessler got his way, and we're about to go into the nuclear winter of the NBA,'' he told ESPN. ''If I were a player ... I would be wondering what it is that Billy Hunter just did.''
The sides still can negotiate during the legal process, so players didn't want to write off the season just yet.
''I don't want to make any assumptions,'' union VP Keyon Dooling said. ''I believe we'll continue to try to get a deal done or let this process play out. I don't know what to expect from this process.''
Hunter said the NBPA's ''notice of disclaimer'' was filed with Stern's office about an hour before the news conference announcing the move.

Hunter said the bargaining process had ''completely broken down.'' Players and owners have been talking for some two years but couldn't reach a deal, with players feeling the league's desires to improve competitive balance would hurt their free agency options.
And beyond that, the owners' desire for a 50-50 split of basketball-related income, after players were guaranteed 57 percent under the old deal, meant players were shifting at least $280 million per year to the owners.
''This deal could have been done. It should have been done,'' Hunter said. ''We've given and given and given, and they got to the place where they just reached for too much and the players decided to push back.''
Over the weekend, Stern said he would not cancel the season this week.
Regardless, damage already has been done, in many ways.
Financially, both sides have lost hundreds of millions because of the games missed and the countless more that will be wiped out before play resumes. Team employees are losing money, and in some cases, jobs. And both the NBA and NBPA eventually must regain the loyalty of an angered fan base that wonders how the league reached this low point after such a strong 2010-11 season.FOX SPORTS POLL

The proposal rejected by the players called for a 72-game season beginning Dec. 15.
On Sunday, the league made a very public push on the positives of the deal - hosting a 90-minute twitter chat to answer questions from players and fans, posting a YouTube video to explain the key points and sending a memo from Stern to players urging them to ''study our proposal carefully, and to accept it as a fair compromise of the issues between us.''

In the memo, posted on the league's website, Stern highlighted points of the deal and asked players to focus on the compromises the league made during negotiations, such as dropping its demands for a hard salary cap, non-guaranteed contracts and salary rollbacks.
Union officials repeatedly have said the system issues are perhaps more important to them than the split of basketball-related income, but owners say they need fundamental changes in both to allow for a chance to profit and to ensure more competitive balance throughout the league.

The previous CBA expired at the end of the day June 30. Despite a series of meetings in June, there was never much hope of a deal before that deadline, with owners wanting significant changes after saying they lost $300 million last season and hundreds of millions more in each year of the old agreement, which was ratified in 2005.

Owners wanted to keep more of the league's nearly $4 billion in basketball revenues. And they sought a system where even the smallest-market clubs could compete, believing the current system would always favor the teams who could spend the most.
The NBA's last work stoppage reduced the 1998-99 season to 50 games. Monday marked the 137th day of the lockout; the NFL lockout lasted 136 days.

In its labor battle, NFL players tried to get the courts to overturn the lockout and let players return to work. Although a Minnesota judge initially ruled in favor of the players, that ruling was put on hold by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
''Given the rulings that came down in the NFL case, which are not binding in the 2nd circuit but would be influential, right now the owners are not in a bad spot,'' said antitrust attorney David Scupp of Constantine Cannon in New York City. ''It could very well be that the players have an uphill battle toward getting that lockout enjoined. If they can do that, then it might swing things in their favor.''
But time is not on anyone's side.

''If you look at what happened with the NFL case, that whole legal battle surrounding the temporary injunction was resolved relatively quickly, and it still took a few months,'' Scupp said. ''There's not a few months to spare this time around.''

NBA players made a bad decision. The public is apathetic at best about the pro game and this could get very ugly. The golden age of player salaries is over. They killed the golden goose. Personally, I could care less. Interesting to note that the NBA loses money every year. Simple economics, not enough tickets sold to pay the big salaries. I guess the players are too stupid to realize this aspect of the business. Eliminate this worthless league, not worth the effort to keep it going with all the greed.

One thing about the owners, they didn't make their money being chumps and they sure as hell didn't make it throwing a ball through a hoop. By the time a lawsuit goes to court the majority of the players will be broke, and their lawyers will make millions off of them. Guess who the winners are, the scumbag lawyers. In the final analysis, the NBA is the only place the players can make a living so take the deal and shut up, or, watch it fizzle.

''We want to play basketball,'' Commissioner David Stern said. Come Christmas Day, they should be. The sides reached a tentative agreement early Saturday to end the 149-day lockout and hope to begin the delayed season with a marquee tripleheader Dec. 25. Most of a season that seemed in jeopardy of being lost entirely will be salvaged if both sides approve the handshake deal. Barring a change in scheduling, the 2011-12 season will open with the Boston Celtics at New York Knicks, followed by Miami at Dallas in an NBA finals rematch before MVP Derrick Rose and Chicago visiting Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. Neither side provided many specifics about the deal, and there are still legal hurdles that must be cleared before gymnasiums are open again. ''We thought it was in both of our interest to try to reach a resolution and save the game,'' union executive director Billy Hunter said. After a secret meeting earlier this week that got the broken process back on track, the sides met for more than 15 hours Friday, working to save the season. Stern said the agreement was ''subject to a variety of approvals and very complex machinations, but we're optimistic that will all come to pass and that the NBA season will begin Dec. 25.'' The league plans a 66-game season and aims to open training camps Dec. 9, with free agency opening at the same time. Stern has said it would take about 30 days from an agreement to playing the first game. ''All I feel right now is `finally,''' Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade told The Associated Press.

Just 12 days after talks broke down and Stern declared the NBA could be headed to a ''nuclear winter,'' he sat next to Hunter to announce the 10-year deal, with either side able to opt out after the sixth year. ''For myself, it's great to be a part of this particular moment in terms of giving our fans what they wanted and wanted to see,'' said Derek Fisher, the president of the players' association. A majority on each side is needed to approve the agreement, first reported by CBSSports.com. The NBA needs votes from 15 of 29 owners. (The league owns the New Orleans Hornets.) Stern said the labor committee plans to discuss the agreement later Saturday and expects them to endorse it and recommend to the full board. The union needs a simple majority of its 430-plus members. That process is a bit more complicated after the players dissolved the union Nov. 14. Now, they must drop their antitrust lawsuit in Minnesota and reform the union before voting on the deal. Because the union disbanded, a new collective bargaining agreement can only be completed once the union has reformed. Drug testing and other issues still must be negotiated between the players and the league, which also must dismiss its lawsuit filed in New York.

''We're very pleased we've come this far,'' Stern said. ''There's still a lot of work to be done.'' The sides will quickly return to work later Saturday, speaking with attorneys and their own committees to keep the process moving. When the NBA returns, owners hope to find the type of parity that exists in the NFL, where the small-market Green Bay Packers are the current champions. The NBA has been dominated in recent years by the biggest spenders, with Boston, Los Angeles and Dallas winning the last four titles. ''I think it will largely prevent the high-spending teams from competing in the free-agent market the way they've been able to in the past. It's not the system we sought out to get in terms of a harder cap, but the luxury tax is harsher than it was. We hope it's effective,'' deputy commissioner Adam Silver said. ''We feel ultimately it will give fans in every community hope that their team can compete for championships.'' The league hopes fans come right back, despite their anger over a work stoppage that followed such a successful season. But owners wanted more of the league's $4 billion in annual revenues after players were guaranteed 57 percent of basketball-related income in the old deal. Participating in the talks for the league were Stern, Silver, Spurs owner Peter Holt, the chairman of the labor relations committee, and attorneys Rick Buchanan and Dan Rube. The players were represented by executive director Billy Hunter, president Derek Fisher, vice president Maurice Evans, attorney Ron Klempner and economist Kevin Murphy.